The biblical verse in the book of Micah explains what was meant by passion. In this book all of the people are arguing with the prophet asking what God wants from them. He comes up with a line that is the basis for the whole Judaic faith, not law, tradition.

“Thou hast shown me, oh man, what is good and what the Lord requires of thee, but to do justice, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God.”

To do compassion was to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God. The Hebrew concept of justice, at the time, was not like the Greek concept of scales and the balance. The Hebrew concept was more like a river where everyone moved together in one direction. This is the biblical idea of compassion. If one does social justice work as charity or transformational work without compassion, one only becomes part of the problem and positive transformation can’t take place. The only type of transformation that will take place will be the objectification of both the helper and the ones being helped, and the entrenchment of the two apposing positions in the system.